I’m torn abt whether or not to cloth full time

[dooks]

Kind of a rant, kind of a “what would you do?”

I did cloth with my older child from 7 months old when I discovered it until almost 3 when she grew out of them.

She’s autistic and has been in pull ups since, turning 6 in a couple weeks. I’ve been back and forth on that one bc buying big diapers would be another expense & we’re starting time training so she may just go to panties.

With my baby, I started cloth as soon as the diapers fit. She was born at 36wks and I only had like 8 cloth diapers that fit her so I did part time for awhile until she fit the ones I had & the newborn sizes I’d bought specifically for her. Did cloth almost full time at that point BUT

My family hates it. My husband won’t use them. If family babysits, they want disposables. Baby is now 15 months old. I cloth while at home but keep a stash of disposables for the nights I work & husband has her & for when I go out bc they take up less space.

Lately, baby is pulling at her disposables and we have to put a cd cover over them either way. So I’m thinking I’ll just start traveling with the cloth diapers too when we go out. The downside is that they take up more space and when I go to family’s houses, I’ll have to be the only one to change her.

The other issue is that when I part time cloth and use more disposables, the cloth sits there for too long and ends up only getting washed every two weeks when I have a full load. The bags SMELL.

I have a diaper pail for them so it’s not a huge deal but we share the washer/dryer with my family since we live at my mom’s for now. So I have to like sneak downstairs when no one is around to get my load in for pre wash before anyone smells it…

 

[anglic9823]

@dooks I do a lot of part time cloth, we do disposables overnight and as needed. If you can only wash every 2 weeks then doing 4 days of full cloth then washing is better than a little each day as they really shouldn’t be sitting there that long regularly. Or planning your cloth around your schedule eg I would do full cloth over the 4 days I didn’t work then do full disposable the days I did work (luckily grouped together). It’s also ok to admit that this time in your life isn’t a good fit for cloth, I stopped cloth with my older son when he was only going through 3 a day and I wasn’t getting a full load in time for wash day combined with not having solid poos still as a toddler. Now I’m back in cloth with my newborn.

 

[dooks]

@anglic9823 She has solid poo, rly easy to clean and I can probably get a medium size load w/3-4 full days so I’m going to try to make my schedule around that

 

[katrina2017]

@dooks I honestly have no idea how people manage to do cloth at all without their spouse (and in your case, your parents/housemates) being 100% on board. I'm a SAHM and my spouse works 50-80 hours a week, so I get how it could be technically manageable if you're mostly the one with the baby but still. With that factor alone I would personally give it up altogether. There are some benefits to cloth but at that rate it just seems too complicated to be worth it imho.

 

[dooks]

@katrina2017 I do Instacart two nights a week when he’s off work so those are the only times he has them alone. So we’re buying like $12 packs from Aldi about once every 2 months

 

[katrina2017]

@dooks So all diaper changing and washing is on you 100% of the rest of the time? Seems mentally exhausting on top of everything else you're dealing with. But obviously keep doing whatever is working for you - different strokes and all that.

 

[dooks]

@katrina2017 Yes it is but tbh I don’t think I’d get much help otherwise as husband is at work roughly 50-60hrs a week

 

[andybrooks]

@dooks Part time cloth is fine too?

We did it in part for the trash. So much less trash going to landfill. If I lived where I am from (all trash goes to the incinerator and gets used for heat), I’d honestly not have cared as much. But I live in US and every cloth diaper I used was one less on the trash.

Especially if you are on more than one kid using and you already own, might as well use part time. Can you add a rinse wash after a couple days so they don’t sit there for so long completely dirty? A lot of people do that.

 

[dooks]

@andybrooks I’m thinking of spending the $150 to get one of those smaller portable washer/spin dry combos for just our clothes & diaps upstairs

 

[cclun]

@dooks Why do you want to cloth? What’s your motivation? Why won’t others use them?

Decide what works for you and the children and ask others how they can get on board, not if. I would never expect a mom to change every diaper. That’s absurd. Other caregivers are perfectly capable.

Also, I suggest doing small loads more often. Regardless of how many are there, run wash at least weekly.

 

[dooks]

@cclun The wash thing has been difficult just bc we have other clothes and we share. I’m probably going to invest in one of those smaller portable machines. I know some ppl who use them with cloth and they work great.

My motivations are: I think cloth is more comfortable for the baby, it’s cheaper in the long run, I never have to worry about running out of diapers, and there’s ultimately less environmental impact. I’d even love to get invested in wool covers/diapers and get rid of my PUL covers and pockets.

I’ve asked them about this and basically if they can’t take off a diaper with Velcro straps and throw it in the trash, they don’t want to do it. No one will budge. If I get some book & loop AIOs and use the diaper pail at home with the reusable liner for cloth…that MIGHT work for ppl when they’re here but not at their house.

 

[wren84]

@dooks I don’t think it’s cheaper at all in the long run if you’re doing it part time honestly, especially if you need to buy a separate little washer, and still use disposables half the time. It’s definitely not cheaper if you want to end up using wool too.

 

[dooks]

@wren84 Also the washers I’m talking about are $150. It would help us bc we wouldn’t have to wait to use the communal washer for other clothes too. It wouldn’t be JUST for diapers.

 

[dooks]

@wren84 I’ve used the same diapers through two kids & for this baby she was exclusively clothed for several months. We buy the Aldi disposables so it’s about $12 every other month. We were gifted some new shells and inserts last Christmas and I got a lot more when she was born.

If I choose to go with merino wool, I was going to knit or weave the covers myself. I get a lot of wool from friends that spin their own and then have leftovers they can’t sell. Sometimes they have skeins they dyed that didn’t work out the way they wanted for a commission too and they don’t want it for themselves. I get it at a rly discounted price in those cases.

 

[ngarciaiii]

@dooks I wouldn't cloth full time in that scenario. I send my toddler to her grandma's in disposables, although the catch is that she buys them, and she put up with cloth in the beginning. She just didn't pull out the liners or anything.

Why won't they use the cloth if you take care of the mess after? That seems dramatic on their part, especially your husband.

I would also definitely wash more frequently regardless of the load size.

 

[dooks]

@ngarciaiii Yeah I’ve had to use bleach to sanitize twice in the past 3 months & had to strip… but most of them hadn’t been stripped ever or in more than 6 months so it was probably time anyway.

Everyone acts like they don’t know how cloth works. I even have all in ones too but they do all have snaps. They don’t seem to understand that it’ll be easy if they do it a few times and see how the diapers work.

I do use flats & prefolds at home sometimes but most of our stash is pockets & AIOs. I feel like it rly shouldn’t be that hard.

Even more annoying: baby girl is in feeding therapy bc she is refusing to eat solids. About 90% of her diet is pediasure right now and her poops are hard/formed. It’s literally dump in the toilet and you’re done. No spraying or wiping involved. She also only poops once a day or once every other day.